Sewing machines with improved loop deflector



July 17, 1962 A. M. GARDNER ETAL 3,044,427

SEWING MACHINES WITH IMPROVED LOOP DEFLECTOR Filed April 26, 1960 INVENTORS August M. Gardner Anthony C. Zby/uf W21 6m.

TTQRNEY WITNESS 3,044,427 SEWING MACHINES WITH IMPROVED LOOP DEFLECTOR August M. Gardner, Elizabeth, and Anthony C. Zbylut, Bayonne, NJ., assignors to The Singer Manufacturing Company, Elizabeth, N.J., a corporation of New Jersey Filed Apr. 26, 1960, Ser. No. 24,783 1 Claim. (Cl. 112-187) deflecting the needle thread loop of a shuttle type sewing machine.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved means for mounting a loop deflector in a shuttle type sewing machine.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an improved loop deflector which, because of its shape and position in the sewing machine, renders the sewing machine capable of sewing lace or doing darning when there is little or no work between the presser foot and the throat plate of the sewing machine.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an improved loop deflector which will not snag the needle thread.

With the above and other objects in View, as will hereinafter appear, the invention comprises the devices, combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter set forth and illustrated in the accompanying drawings of a preferred embodiment of the invention, from which the several features of the invention and the advantages at tained thereby will be readily understood by those skilled in the art.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary elevational end view of a shuttle type sewing machine provided with an improved loop deflector embodying the present invention,

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1 and showing the sewing machine needle in its lowermost position,

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 but showing the needle after it has risen slightly above its lowermost position,

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIGS. 2 and 3 but showing the needle in a further raised position,

FIG. 5 is an enlarged perspective view of the shuttle raceway cap, and, a

FIG. 6 is an enlarged front view of a portion of the part shown in FIG. 5-.

With reference to the drawings, the invention has been shown as embodied in a shuttle type sewing machine 15 having a bed plate 16 accommodating a throat plate 17 on which rests the work 18 to be sewed. The work 18 in this instance may comprise ordinary cloth or lace or when the sewing machine 15 is being used for darning there may actually be no work on the throat plate 17 at the point of stitch formation. A presser foot 19 carried on the lower end of a presser bar 21 forces the work 18 against the upper surface of the throat plate 17. A reciprocatory eye-pointed needle 22 carries the upper or needle thread 23 and as the needle 22 descends, the needle 22 penetrates the work 18 and carries both the supply limb 24 and the work limb 26 of the thread 23 through the work 18 and below the throat plate 17. The needle 22 and the needle thread 23 cooperate in the formation of stitches with a lower thread manipulated by a lower stitching mechanism 27. The mechanism 27 includes, among other well known elements, an open sided substantially C-shaped shuttle body 28 and a shuttle gate 29, the latter being hinged to the shuttle body 28 in a known 3,044,427 Patented July 1'7, 1962 manner. The mechanism 27, which carries the lower thread 30, is similar to the lower stitching mechanism shown in United States Patent No.- 2,761,402, and thus need not bedescribed in complete detail. say that the C-shaped shuttle body 28 is held to the frame of the sewing machine 15 by a pair of screws 31-31 and that the shuttle gate 29 is held in closed position by a pair of turnable latches 33-33. An elon-' gated cap 34 having two holes 36-36 is secured to the upper portion ofthe C-shaped shuttle body 28 bya pair of screws 3737 passing through the holes 3636.'

The C-shaped shuttle body 28 and the gate 29, when clamped together by latches 33-33 form a raceway (not shown) which accommodates a conventional shuttle 38 which is driven by a driver 39. The shuttle 38 is formed with a beak 41, the function of which will presently be described. By reference to FIGS. 5 and 6, it will be noted that the cap 34 has a partially U-shaped needle receiving aperture or opening 42. One side 43 of the opening 42 is substantially straight whereas the other side has a straight portion 44 and a portion at a bevel as shown at 46. The straight end 47 of the needle receiving opening 42 is perpendicular to the side 43 and also perpendicular to the straight portion 44. Depending from the end 47 of the opening 42 is a loop deflector lug or dependency 51. The lug 51 is not symmetrical in that the side or edge 52 is ahnost perpendicular, as best seen in FIG. 6, whereas the side or edge 53 has a slight curve extending at an angle of approximately 45 degrees with respect to the vertical. Also, the lowermost position or bottom of the lug 51 is curved as at 54.

When the sewing machine 15 is being used to produce stitches and the needle 22 is in its lowermost position (FIG. 2), the work limb 26 of the thread 23 is on the loop seizing side of the needle 22, which side is formed with the shortgroove 56. At the same time, the supply limb 24 of the thread 23 is positioned in the long groove 57 of the needle 22. As the needle rises from the lowermost position shown in FIG. 2 to an intermediate position shown in FIG. 3, the grip of the work 18 on the work limb 26 of the thread 23 causes the thread 23 to form a loop 58 onthe loop seizing side of the needle. Formation of this loop 58 tends to feed thread 23 backwardly through the eye 59 of the needle 22 and thus tends to form a small loop in the supply limb 24. In

order that the beak 41 may enter the loop 58 on the loop seizing side of the needle, it is desirable to have a large loop form in the work limb 26 and it is undesirable to have an appreciable loop form in the supply limb 24. In order that the maximum loop may be formed in the work limb 26 and in order that as small a loop as possible, or no loop at all, be formed in the supply limb 24, the present invention provides the cap 34 with the previously described depending, lug 51 located orpositioned adjacent to the long groove 57 side of the needle 22. Thus when the needle 22 rises from the position shown in FIG. 2 to the position shown in FIG. 3 and further to the elevated position shown in FIG. 4, the loop deflect-or lug 51 will prevent formation of an appreciable thread loop in the supply limb 24 and at the same time will assure that a proper sized thread loop will be formed in the work limb 26 on the loop seizing side of the needle. This is accomplished by having the loop deflector lug 51 located close to the long groove side of the needle and thus close to the supply limb 24 of the thread'23. Because of the proximity of the loop deflector lug 51 to the supply limb 24, a large sized loop cannot form in the supply limb 24. At the same time, since a loop deflector is not located on the loop seizing side of the needle 22, there is nothing to prevent a large of the shuttle 38e1itersthe large loop 58 on the loop seizing side of the needle as part of the well known process of stitch formation. The edge of the loop deflector lug 51 is beveled or cut away as at 53 in the manner best shown in FIG. 6. This assures that the lug 51 will not snag the needle thread 23 during the stitching operation; ,Also, as best seen in FIGS. 24, the bottom 54 of g the lug 51 is rounded in a gentle curve.

Having ,thus set forth the nature of this invention, what we claim herein is: I r

A sewing machine having in combination an eyepointed needle arranged tomanipulate a needle thread, a lower stitch forming mechanism/arranged to manipulate a lower thread and to cooperate with said eyepointed needle in the formation of stitches, a shuttle carried as a part of said lower stitch forming mechanism,

loop deflecting lug having one substantially straight side, 5 one slightly curved side and a curved bottom.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 571,322 Klemm Mar. 10, 1896 845,092 Jacob et a1; Feb. 26, 1907 944,740 Madison Dec. 28, 1909 2,544,227 Hohmann Mar. 6, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS Germany Oct. 29, 1940 

